A L U M N I

100 PC - Badge

For anyone interested in sharing with others about the current challenge you are taking on, please use the badge above to display on your blog! By posting it as a picture, you can link it back to the challenge blog as well.

Quantity over Quality

Sounds odd doesn't it?! Quantity over quality………

The purpose for quantity over quality is because most of us strive to paint a quality painting each time we touch brush to paper. We sometimes get too caught up in the quality of our paintings and don't finish them for a myriad of reasons including "it's not good enough," "it doesn't look right," and "it looks nothing like I thought it would."

By focusing on quantity, we set aside the search for perfection and begin to paint for the practice of it, to learn what works, what doesn't and to keep going - no matter how good or how poorly a painting is turning out.

Giving/Receiving Encouragement

One of the things that can help us to grow quickly is encouraging comments - it keeps us motivated to continue painting. We are often “too close” to our own work and someone else, with more distance, can easily see areas to be improved.

Giving Encouragment:

• Be positive and upbeat!

• Use constructive criticism if you offer a critique.

• Be specific about what works well and why OR what does not work well and why.

• Re-read your comments BEFORE posting to make sure they say what you want them say!

• Be kind and courteous.

• Consider that you may not know what the artist’s “vision” is for a particular piece of artwork.

Receiving Encouragement:

• Try it on for size - if it fits, great. If not, disregard the comment(s).

• Take the comment in the spirit it was given - to be helpful.

• Do not fire off a comment in anger or hurt.

• Do not retaliate by being hurtful in your comments back to someone who has hurt you.

If you feel someone is being unfair on a repeated basis, contact me directly so that we can discuss it off-line.

PLEASE NOTE: As moderator of this blog, I reserved the right to delete any and all comments and/or posts offensive or harmful to other participants. This includes excessive negativity. I reserve the right to remove a participant from the blog if offensive behaviors persist after a written warning is issued. All decisions will be final and not open for discussion.

If you would like to receive encouraging comments on

yourartwork, leave encouraging comments for others!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Painting #68 - Succulent For Critique

The reference photo below is from a friend and I used the painting for Cactus Monday.

I like the painting and LOVE that cobalt blue. I see a love affair coming with that shade of blue. This is the first time I have blended three colors together. Each petal was done separately using cobalt blue, yellow ochre and rose.

I also know the colors are not the same but I like my colors, one of those artist license things.

What bothers me is the background. I wanted the plant to 'pop' more and have more texture. I was on the way to overworking it so I quit painting.

5 comments:

I absolutely love the colors you used on the plant itself, but you are right, it gets lost in the background. Unfortunately, I have not painted very much so I don't know how to give advice as to how to correct that issue.

The only thing I could suggest is either making the background color much lighter or going with a deeper gray with flecks of color.

I'm not much help am I? lol. Anyway, I admire anyone that can paint at all, I'm still scared to death to try another round with watercolors as my first piece didn't turn out so well and I haven't even touched my acrylics. I'm so glad I found this blog, it gives me inspiration everyday.

Teri, have you tried making your reference image into a grayscale? When I look at the photo, I don't see much value change. So, I think the values of your painting are probably correct.

In the photo ref, must of the color is within the succulent and the background as mostly value and color. I think Deanna may be right in that you need a more monotone grey background. You may also want to try deepening some of the form shadows deep inside the cactus to give it more depth.

Thank you, I did look at the grayscale and right, not much difference (but thanks for that as I never thought of doing it).I should have scanned this before I added the background as it was prettier. I may mess around with it more...or not. :)

Artistic Development

• This blog is dedicated to artistic improvement. It is a venue for the committed artist to receive ENCOURAGEMENT while taking on the 100 Painting Challenge.

• It is a place to discuss struggles with the challenge.

• It is a place to celebrate milestones, accomplishments and breakthroughs.

• It is a place to offer encouragement to others.

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• It is NOT a place to share negativity or any off-topic subject. This is an art blog.

• It is NOT a place to lurk. The expectation is that each artist will be posting at least 4 paintings a month, one per post.

• A painting may only be posted once.

• The painting should be posted on this blog and not direct participants to another link.

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• Up to two paintings may be posted by each artists for critiques and feedback each month.

About the Challenge

The 100 Paintings In a Year Challenge is intended for artists that are dedicated to the growth and development of their style as well as their artistic voice. The challenge also provides a means for overcoming areas in need of improvement.

The paintings should be a mix of small, medium and large pieces, some sketches, plein aire, and studio work; work from life as well as from photos. The variety is meant to push the artist out of any rut, to provide ample opportunity to create no matter what other time obligations are going on, and to challenge the artist if they do not create in one of these categories. The work can be done in any medium, but it is strongly advised that the artist consider choosing one medium in which to do the Challenge as this will help facilitate faster growth than trying to master multiple mediums.

DO NOT JUDGE the artwork! When a piece is complete, set it aside and move to the next piece of work. Learning to suspend judgement of our work is a major step forward in the development our skills.

Once committed, the expectation is that the artist will fully participate in the blog by posting on a regular basis as well as leaving encouraging comments of others' artwork through comments.